I think I would have loved this film if I were maybe eleven, but watching it now it's incredibly predictable, lame, dorky and boring, with trendy 90's boy-band soundtrack, obvious 90's fashions, mediocre acting and the things teen girls (and boys) face growing up, that they don't seem to realize isn't as important as they think. Kristy has a new step-family and still can't accept that her father doesn't speak to her. Stacey is struggling with her diabetes when she meets a boy older than her who she tries to have a relationship with. Dawn is in the "I can make a difference" teen activism phase, sort of a 90's hippie dork, and there are more in the group who I honestly don't care enough to recall. The group of girls are all babysitters, looked down on by the snobby rich girls.
The summer changes everything, they each grow up a little faster than they expected when running a summer camp for their clients. Kristy learns that her beloved father isn't who he was when she was a baby, and Dawn learns that not all people are what they seem when she has to deal with a cranky neighbor. Stacey discovers that lying about your age to get a guy is no way to build a relationship, and that while her disease is annoying, she doesn't need to be ashamed of it. By the time summer ends it brings the club, and their new friends they've met over the summer, closer together.
I wasn't a 90's teen, I don't know... were eleven-year-olds allowed to babysit at that time? I just don't see this film as very realistic; the few in the group who are old enough to fully understand how to tackle running a full-time summer camp are hardly present because they're busy doing other things in their lives. Dawn's character was extremely annoying; she would ramble on about the environment at the worst of times and was a pretty much useless waste of space. One positive, it was cool seeing Natanya Ross, who played the role of gloomy and depressed Robyn Russo in the Secret World of Alex Mack, pulling off a half-decent acting job in the minor role of the snobby girl Grace.
Babysitter's Club is just a typical teen drama, but it lacks the humor that Madeline (1998) and Harriet the Spy (1996) both had. If you grew up reading the novels and want it for nostalgic value, you might enjoy it but it isn't the same as the books, it differs in many parts.
The summer changes everything, they each grow up a little faster than they expected when running a summer camp for their clients. Kristy learns that her beloved father isn't who he was when she was a baby, and Dawn learns that not all people are what they seem when she has to deal with a cranky neighbor. Stacey discovers that lying about your age to get a guy is no way to build a relationship, and that while her disease is annoying, she doesn't need to be ashamed of it. By the time summer ends it brings the club, and their new friends they've met over the summer, closer together.
I wasn't a 90's teen, I don't know... were eleven-year-olds allowed to babysit at that time? I just don't see this film as very realistic; the few in the group who are old enough to fully understand how to tackle running a full-time summer camp are hardly present because they're busy doing other things in their lives. Dawn's character was extremely annoying; she would ramble on about the environment at the worst of times and was a pretty much useless waste of space. One positive, it was cool seeing Natanya Ross, who played the role of gloomy and depressed Robyn Russo in the Secret World of Alex Mack, pulling off a half-decent acting job in the minor role of the snobby girl Grace.
Babysitter's Club is just a typical teen drama, but it lacks the humor that Madeline (1998) and Harriet the Spy (1996) both had. If you grew up reading the novels and want it for nostalgic value, you might enjoy it but it isn't the same as the books, it differs in many parts.